Chase Slate: Balance Transfers With No Fee

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You should always eat healthy meals, exercise every day, and pay your credit card statements in full each month. But just as we might not follow every recommendation for living a healthy life, most Americans tend to carry a balance and are paying credit card interest every month. As unsecured debt that is never tax-deductible, credit card interest rates are higher than those paid on a home mortgage or a student loan.

Although the ultimate solution to eliminating credit card interest is paying off your debt, there is an interim strategy that can eliminate interest charges. Promotional financing offers common on many credit cards can allow new cardholders to transfer their balance from an existing card to the new one, which can offer interest-free financing for a period of 6-18 months. The Slate card from Chase offers 15 months of interest-free financing on both new purchases and balance transfers. But in addition, it allows you to transfer a balance without paying a balance transfer fee of 3% or more. This card also features Chase’s innovative Blueprint program that offers tools to help you meet your debt elimination goal on a time frame that you set.

How the Balance Transfer Works

Once approved for the Slate card, customers have 60 days in which to execute the promotional balance transfer. In effect, you are asking Chase to pay off your old credit card’s balance and apply that amount to your new Slate card. Just note that the old balance must be on a card that is not from Chase.

I have reviewed dozens of other cards, but all others require that an additional 3% of the amount transferred be added to your new account as a balance transfer fee. So this is clearly the best balance transfer offer on the market as it is the only one without a balance transfer fee. But in addition, new purchases can also be made interest free for a period of 15 months. Always keep in mind that you will still have to make a monthly minimum payment, and you will still have to pay off all charges within 15 months in order to avoid interest. (See also: When to Do a Balance Transfer to Pay Off Credit Card Debt)

The Beauty of Blueprint

Savvy credit card experts quickly recognize the fact that Slate is the only card on the market with no balance transfer fee. But what few reviewers appear to understand is the value behind Chase’s unique Blueprint program. Blueprint is a feature available at no additional charge to holders of several different Chase credit cards. But I strongly believe that this program is ideally suited to the typical Slate cardholder, someone who carries a balance.

There are four components to this system: First, cardholders can designate charges as “Full Pay.” When you can’t pay your balance in full you can designate particular types of charges that you want to pay off, and carry a balance on the others. This is an amazing feature as other cards will incur interest on all charges unless your entire balance is paid in full. The Blueprint program will allow you to pay off some purchases without charging you interest, even if you currently carry a balance. That's unheard of. Secondly, their “Split” program allows you to create a plan to pay off a large purchase in the amount of time you choose. The “Finish It” component allows you to plan how much you want to pay each month and calculates how long it will take to pay off your debt at that rate. Alternatively, you can decide when you want to pay off your balance, and it will calculate the monthly payments necessary to achieve that goal. Finally, the “Track It” feature is a budgeting tool to help you group and total your purchases. Together, they are the most powerful debt reduction system offered by any credit card issuer.

Pros

No fee balance transfer. With 15 months of fee-free and interest-free financing on your existing balance, you will not find this offer anywhere else.

Promotional financing on new purchase. New transactions are also interest-free for 15 months.

Blueprint program. Lets you avoid interest on some charges while paying others on a schedule you set.

No annual fee. Neither the Slate card nor the Blueprint features have any fees.

Cons

No rewards. There is no sign-up bonus, and there are no spending rewards for this card.

Foreign transaction fees. Chase charges a 3% fee on all transactions processed outside of the United States.

Encourages procrastination. For those who continuously struggle with debt, it does not make sense to keep increasing your debt with no penalties.

Who This Card Is Best For

If you have credit card debt, then your number one priority should be to pay it off. The Chase Slate card helps you to do that by offering 15 months of 0% APR promotional financing on both new purchase and balance transfers with no fees. In addition, it offers the power of Blueprint to give you all the information you need to achieve your goals. Do not use Slate or any other balance transfer card just to kick the can down the road and worry about paying off your debts another time. Just like your favorite cereal can be part of a healthy breakfast, the Slate card can be an important part of a healthy plan to eliminate your credit card debt.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any bank, card issuer, airline or hotel chain.

Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

I have NO respect for Capitol One, they bought out my HSBC credit card that I may have used 2 or 3 times a year but it is my OLDEST card over 20 yrs and then they close it stating I dont use it much which made my credit score plummet and it now states I have a credit history of ONLY 2 yrs on my credit reports, talk about some dirty sh*t, I will be closing ANY and ALL credit and store cards that Capitol One services and NEVER do business with them again....

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